Thoughts on the Halloween 2018 trailer

The first official trailer for Halloween 2018 has just dropped and, well, I’m excited.

Very excited.

First and foremost for anyone still unclear, this new Halloween movie will be a sequel to the original HalloweenONLY. IGNORE ALL THE OTHER SEQUELS – THEY ARE NO LONGER CANON.

The trailer makes this pretty clear from the start, by noting that serial killer Michael Myers has been locked away for 40 years, meaning all the events of the sequels didn’t take place. Another big revelation arrives in the comment that according to this trailer, Michael is NOT Laurie Strode’s brother.

This revelation is significant as it means Laurie (Jamie Lee Curtis) and Michael are no longer siblings, cutting out a story beat that has been significant with the Halloween series dating back to Halloween 2 (1981). This is a pretty big change and I for one welcome it!

The decision to start afresh by creating this diversion in the series allows for a different story to unfold. As we can see in the trailer, this new story seems to see Laurie go all bad-ass, Sarah Connor-style!

When I heard that this movie was ignoring the sequels I was concerned that we’d be getting a repeat of Halloween: H20 (1998). Don’t get me wrong, I love H20 but I didn’t want to see Curtis having to play the role of victim once again for Halloween 2018. Thankfully this is clearly not the case and we’re now getting a Curtis who is ready for a fight!

Bring it on!

As for the rest of the trailer, the main thing that sticks out for me is the fact that this looks like a scary entry in the Halloween series. The trailer included some creepy moments (the teeth!) and a nod to the original (the closet) and I got the genuine feeling that this is going to be a MUST-SEE movie this Halloween.